blog.lmorchard.com

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The Matrix BrickPhone

Okay, no.

This new Matrix-inspired phone is ugly as hell and not cool at all. Do they actually use this thing in the movie? I hope this isn't a sign for what the movie will be like -- clumsy, bulky, cartoonish and not at all subtle like the original. See, the first movie had a phone. I forget the model number, but I think it was a Nokia. its sliding keypad cover was modified especially for the movie with a switchblade-springload action for extra cool factor. And, unlike a lot of phones at the time, it was slick and sleek and tiny.

So what the hell is this thing? It looks like a walkee-talkee for grade school kids, not the "ultimate conversation piece".

shortname=matrix_phone

Archived Comments

  • Brian

    Agreed. That is one helluva uggee mobile.
  • Timothy Appnel

    They do use it, but its not as prominent as the last movie from what I remember. I thought the movie was excellent and this phone doesn't reflect what its like -- though with a much larger budget and studio support they went all out. The last movie used a Nokia 8110. It was a dual-band GSM phone so it never made it to the US. Right after the first movie, when I would travel to England half the brits I met with had one. It was discontinued because the springload action kept breaking and in some cases shot the cover clear across the room. Interestingly one owner told me that the phone was quite popular in a pub game where it was used to launch bottlecaps across the table into a make shift goal. Your're right this phone is a disappointment. I'm sure Samsung called the shots and for their promotional contribution, they had little room to say "this is ugly." I'd still buy the 8110 with a few upgrade to it.
  • Shawn

    Man, did that need to be said. I guess I was thinking I was the only one that didn't get it. I look at my Sony Ericsson T68i, then look at said Brick, and think "what the hell?"
  • Rui Carmo

    The phone in the movie was actually a 7110 (http://www.nokia.com/nokia/0,,135,00.html) with extra metal trim (a specialy mock-up made for the movie). There is no 8110, just the 8210 (http://www.nokia.com/nokia/0,,138,00.html), which I still carry around occasionally. But yeah, the Samsung sucks bigtime. They could have used the Symbian license they own to put out a Series 60 phone like the 7650 (http://www.nokia.com/nokia/0,,137,00.html), but with a Matrix theme.
  • Timothy Appnel

    Sorry typo. You're right Rui -- 7110.
  • Bryce

    No typo, the 8100-series did exist, tho I never saw one in the wild in Europe and Nokia seems to have expunged all evidence of it from their web sites. Here is visual proof: http://pages.cthome.net/morrison/mighty/film/bound/matrix/cellphoneproof.html
  • Rui Carmo

    Hmmm... Could be an 8110 with extra metal trim under the buttons, of course. But I do recall that Neo's phone looked just like mine (I had a 7110 then). Anyone got the DVD handy and can take some stills from the section where he is talking on the windowsill? :)
  • Rui Carmo

    OK, It _is_ an 8110. I actually went and dug out the DVD - Chapter 5 of the DVD shows Neo taking a 8110 out of an envelope, and the phone is also seen dropping to the streets below later on. The power button _is_ red, and it also has a metallic "sheen" around the display that under the lighting looks like the 7110's metal band. I tried taking some stills of the sections where it actually looks like both a 7110 and 8110 due to the lighting, but the second pic Bryce posted shows the lighter band around the display clearly ;)
  • Lee Maguire

    It makes frequent apperences in the "Enter the Matrix" video game.
  • Anonymous

    actually the phone in the original WAS an 8110, i owned one. and even for it's time it was a complete piece of crap. it wasn't tiny and sleek, it was big and ugly, kind of like this one. the only cool factor was the sliding cover thing, which wasn't even that cool. so things haven't really changed, have they?
  • Blitz

    Th phone in the matrix move was a nokia 8110i. They NEVER were made with a spring sliding mech like on the film... they were all manual slide so I think those Brits must have been kidding you Timothy. I live in Australia where the film was made and I've managed to get hold of the ACTUAL modified phones used in the movie through my contacts in the industry. (I'm a stunt man). i have 5 of them, they all work. I don't know what to do with them... I'll guess ill just keep them as collecters items.
  • scradge

    blitz is right the 7110 is a compleatly different phone which has a much larger screen than the 8110. the nokia 8110. is still available if you buy it on ebay. I have 3 myself and are currently modding mine to make the slide work! (a challenege due to the lack of space and che compact moulding! they have also been confused with the nk502 and nk502 which look similar but are not as nice
  • tomyam80

    Blitz, do u really hv the modified version of the phone? If so, i will like to buy 1 fr u. Pls contact me via email. Thks a lot.
  • tomyam80

    Blitz, do u really hv the modified version of the phone? If so, i will like to buy 1 fr u. Pls contact me via email. Thks a lot.
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